“I have always observed that to succeed in the world one should seem a fool, but be wise.”

Baron de Montesquieu, Pensées diverses

Success and Failure

“The success of most things depends upon knowing how long it will take to succeed.”

Baron de Montesquieu, Pensées diverses

War

“Ever since the invention of gunpowder . . . I continually tremble lest men should, in the end, uncover some secret which would provide a short way of abolishing mankind, of annihilating peoples and nations in their entirety.”